


Jennings and the Lost World

by mk_tortie



Category: Jennings - Anthony Buckeridge
Genre: Dinosaurs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 06:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2803214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_tortie/pseuds/mk_tortie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys of the Third Form at Linbury Court school go on an excursion to Kew Gardens. What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jennings and the Lost World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [suitablyskippy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/suitablyskippy/gifts).



> Thanks so much for the incredibly prompt! I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy reading.
> 
> This story includes references to Arthur Conan Doyle's _The Lost World_ , as well as the Palm House at Kew Gardens, a historic botanical garden in Kew, London.
> 
> Thanks to L for the awesome suggestions for the dialogue!

_Third Form Excursion to Kew Gardens - Report to the Headmaster_  
 _Mr. Michael Carter, July 18th_

The third form's summer excursion to Kew Gardens was able to leave Linbury Court promptly at 8am on Thursday, the 17th of July, with all 15 Third Formers ready for the bus punctually and well-turned out in their uniform. We provided each boy with a packed lunch, to be eaten later in the day - this rule was broken only once on the bus journey, after which Mr Wilkins felt it would be pragmatic to keep the lunches with him to be distributed at a later hour. This may be something we should bear in mind for future excursions, as it certainly prevented any further food or liquid damage to the bus. In any case, despite some traffic, we arrived at Kew Gardens as planned at 10am. Temple unfortunately suffered from some travel sickness on the journey and I was required to escort him to a bathroom on arrival, so Mr Wilkins accompanied the boys to the first glasshouse alone.

\----

Darbishire lifted his glasses as they entered the steamy atmosphere of the Palm House and peered mournfully at Jennings. "Gosh, Jennings, this is a mean swizz - my glasses are steaming up in here! How am supposed to see now?"

Jennings, a tall boy with untidy brown hair, looked down at his shorter friend with an air of knowledge and experience. "Never mind that, Darbi! After all, proper professional jungle explorers were never held back by a little thing like steaming up! Just use my patented windscreen wiper method!" He took Darbishire’s glasses off him and unceremoniously wiped them with the not altogether clean sleeve of his jumper before handing them back. Darbishire put them on and looked rather forlorn when his glasses simply steamed up again, except that now they were smeary too. 

Jennings, meanwhile, was already bouncing along the wood-chip path of the greenhouse. "Anyway old chap, just think of everything that Malone and Challenger went through to find the Lost World plateau! Every explorer has to earn their stripes somehow!" Darbishire ran to catch up with him, rubbing uselessly at his glasses as he trotted after his friend.

Behind them, Mr Wilkins made a noise somewhat like an imminently exploding volcano. "Boys! No running inside the greenhouses. And none of this “Ghost World” nonsense. This is a serious excursion for the purpose of learning about the flora of the world, not an excuse for you boys to embarrass the school with your silly little games in a public place!" Wilkins sighed, and wiped his forehead, where sweat had already began to form. Kew Gardens would _not_ have been his first choice of excursion, particularly not at the height of summer - it was far too warm for his liking, and there were far too many opportunities for the boys to make mischief. Never mind, that after the debacle with the General a few months earlier, the boys had become obsessed with the old and crumbling books in the school's library that the General himself had read as a boy. They'd started with Jules Verne, which had led to a series of unfortunate water-based accidents as they experimented with "under sea" adventures, and had lately moved on to Arthur Conan Doyle’s thrilling tale of dinosaur discoveries on a South American plateau, _The Lost World_.

Jennings stopped abruptly, causing Darbishire to bump into him from behind. "Yes sir, sorry sir!" he said sheepishly, and adopted what he felt was an expression appropriate to a serious explorer interested in world fauna. "But it's the _Lost World_ , sir," he ventured, "because of the dinosa--"

Mr Wilkins cut him off with an almost-roar. "Enough, Jennings! There will be no mucking about today, and most CERTAINLY no dinosaurs!"

Fortunately, at that moment, Mr Carter arrived at the greenhouse with Temple, who still looked somewhat green and unhappy. 

\----

_Report to the Headmaster, cont._

On arriving at the Palm House with Temple, I directed the boys to begin their examination of the various plant species present there with the aid of a printed guide kindly provided by the Royal Botanical Gardens Society. Against Mr Wilkins’ misgivings, I allowed the boys half an hour to explore the greenhouse on their own, as it seemed unlikely that they could cause much mischief while confined in such a warm and close space. 

Unfortunately, it appears I was mistaken....

\----

Jennings peered over the top of a large leaf frond and examined the terrain. "I say, Darbishire - I mean, Chief Scientist Summerlee- this territory looks awfully suitable for a pterodactyl, don't you think?"

Darbishire irritably wiped his glasses for the umpteenth time and pulled a magnifying glass out of his blazer, with which he carefully examined the leaf. "As chief scientist on this mission, I believe this is top notch food for an allosaurus, actually." Darbishire took his role as Jennings' support act very seriously. The two boys had an easy friendship, in which Jennings took the natural lead, but Darbishire, usually required to play the scientist or other kinds of boffin in their games, slipped into the role of trusted advisor with practised ease.

Jennings looked excited at Darbishire's pronouncement. "Golly, an allosaurus? That would show Venables and his Extraordinary Terrain Exploration Society a thing or two about how to really hunt dinosaurs!" 

The afore-mentioned Venables appeared at that moment behind Jennings. "What are you wittering on about, Jennings?" he asked. " _We've_ already made three jolly decent discoveries this morning."

Jennings looked sceptical. "Humph, I bet you’ve just discovered some rotten plants," he said, dismissively. "Anyway, you can tell that all the plants in here have already been discovered, that's why they all have these little labels. We're after the big game!"

Venables, having not previously considered the relevance of the scientific labels on Kew's collection of plant species, frowned. "Well, if you think there are dinosaurs about, then Temple and I will have to get out our special patented dinosaur-capturing contraption." 

Jennings looked back up the path at Temple, who was sat miserably on the edge of a bench, his arms protectively around his stomach and his face pale. "Look here, Venables, why don't you join our expedition instead?" he offered magnanimously. "I think Temple's come down with a spot of jungle fever, I wouldn't want you to get eaten by the natives, wandering around on your own like this!"

"We'll have to work out the terms of sharing any scientific discoveries we make," Venables conceded, but he looked somewhat relieved. 

Jennings looked unconcerned. "You can work all of that out with Darbishire, he’s the scientific geezer on this expedition," he said, carelessly. "I think we should go deeper into the jungle at this spot!" He dived under the leaf and in amongst the plants, with Venables close behind. Darbishire made one last futile swipe at his glasses, and followed them.

In amongst the dense thicket of leaves and vines, the air was even warmer, and the boys quickly found themselves sweating. "I don't suppose you and Temple came up with a special technique for cooling off in the jungle, Venables?" Darbishire asked, hopefully.

Venables shrugged. "To be honest, we were focusing on polar expeditions," he said. "We invented this super powered heater that makes you toasty in seconds!"

Darbishire looked pained. "Don't talk about heating just now! It's ghastly enough as it is."

Jennings, ahead of them and partially obscured by plants, turned around. "Oh do stop your moaning, you chaps. We have the chance of a lifetime to discover a real-life dinosaur, and all you two can do is stand there making a lobsterous hoo-hah about being too hot?” He began to find his swing in his dramatic monologue. "Petrified paintpots! Why can't an explorer find a good team these days? Just milksops who complain about a bit of heat..." 

He broke off as he noticed the other boys' faces, which had turned a peculiar shade. Darbishire's mouth was hanging open, and Venables was backing away slowly. Jennings suddenly felt a little sheepish for his outburst. ‘Golly chaps, I didn’t mean to be that much of a gruesome specimen about it.’

"Jennings, t-t-turn around," Darbishire said in a squeak. 

"What?" Jennings said, confused, but did as he was told, and immediately made a noise like a strangled cat. "Fossilised fishhooks! A _Dinosaur!_ " he exclaimed, his voice coming out in a breathy squeal. In front of him, as plain as the nose on his face, stood a large, green and brown dinosaur, with large spines on its neck and two beady eyes. It stood at least twice Jennings' height (and he was, after all, the tallest boy in Third Form)... and it seemed to have spotted them.

Jennings came to his senses. "Run!" he shouted, and the boys turned around, and stumbled back through the dense foliage, Venables at the fore. Jennings quickly caught up with Darbishire, who was finding it difficult to run too quickly without the benefit of being able to see where he was going. He tripped over a vine just as Jennings reached him. "For goodness sake, hurry up, Darby!" Jennings urged. "Or we'll all be dinosaur chowder!"

"What if... it's a.... herbivorous sort?" Darbishire puffed, as he tripped again. 

"Well, it is chasing us!" Jennings retorted as he leapt past his friend. "So I'd jolly well assume that it’s not!"

With that, they tumbled out of the leaves and back onto the woodchip path--straight into Mr Carter's chest. Their teacher looked down on them, an expression of utter disbelief on his face. "Would you like to explain what exactly you've been doing?" he asked, mildly.

Jennings and Venables looked at each other, and Darbishire swiped breathlessly at his glasses with his arm. "There was a..." - "Well, you see, sir..." - "We were just continuing our..." They all spoke at once. 

Mr Carter's attempts to understand the confused jumble of explanations was, however, interrupted by the arrival of Mr Wilkins. "What is this poppycock?" he spluttered. "Dinosaurs! Expeditions! Whatever next? You are wasting your time, and wasting our time, and what's more, probably damaging the valuable collection that Kew Gardens have so kindly allowed us to see!" 

Jennings hung his head. "But sir, there really was..."

Carter put a hand on his colleague's shoulder. "Jennings, I don't need to hear whatever convoluted story you have for us this time," he said gravely. "It's one thing to play your imaginary games, quite another to risk valuable plant specimens in the process." He paused. "I think all three of you had better go and join Temple on the bench there, where we can keep an eye on you until lunch."

\----

_Report to the Headmaster, cont._

After Mr Wilkins and I dealt with Jennings', Darbishire's, and Venables' unacceptable conduct, there were no further problems for our day, and we continued our tour of the remaining greenhouses without any delays or trouble. After consulting with Mr Wilkins, we have decided to deprive the three troublemakers of their next half-holiday, so that they can think about the consequences of taking their imaginative play too far. Jennings in particular was remarkably insistent that he really had encountered a dinosaur in the glasshouse - what made him think we would believe him, I have no idea!

Temple suffered again from motion sickness on our return journey, and I sent him to Matron as soon as we arrived back at Linbury Court. We settled up accounts with both Kew Gardens and the bus company, so no further action needs to be taken with regards to the excursion.

\----

As Jennings and Darbishire readied themselves for bed that night, Jennings sat down on the side of his bed and stared dejectedly at Darbishire. "What a rotten old swizz. We really _did_ see a dinosaur, didn't we Darbi?" he asked, uncertainly. "Old Wilkie telling me it was all made up has got me all jumbled up about what I really did and didn't see!"

Darbishire frowned. "Well, as your top chief scientist, I am pretty certain that when three people all see the same thing, that jolly well makes it a fact," he said, in a considered fashion. "And you, me, and Venables all saw it!"

Jennings' eyes widened. "Well, it's a lucky stroke that I invited Venables along, then! Gosh, without him, we would never have been sure if we weren’t just all hallucinating or something."

Darbishire decided that explaining the niceties of the scientific method would be lost on Jennings at that moment, and sat down on his own bed instead. "I say," he said, slowly. "that dinosaur didn’t look like any of the ones in the books."

Jennings brightened. "Gosh! That means we found a whole _new_ dinosaur! What excellent luck!”

Darbishire frowned in thought. "What should we name it then?" 

Jennings was silent for a few seconds, and then his face lit up. "I know!" he said, struck by the brilliance of his idea. " _Venibilisaurus!_ "

\----

The genus _Venibilisaurus_ , much to both boys' disappointment, never did make it into the scientific books, even after Darbishire carefully penned a letter to the Royal Society. Nevertheless, both boys were satisfied that they had made a true scientific discovery--and even when the craze for exploring had worn off, some three weeks later, the boys of Linbury Court’s Third Form still occasionally mentioned the fabled dinosaur discovery as proof that their "silly games", as Old Wilkie liked to demean them, had a serious purpose, after all!


End file.
